Shirley Jones

Jones achieved popular acclaim with on-screen performances in Oklahoma! (1955), a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical and Elmer Gantry (1960). The latter film garnered her an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role as prostitute Lulu Baines. Her skills as a vocalist shone once again in the 1962 production of Meredith Wilson's The Music Man.

Although her career continued in television after the 1960s, her popularity effectively died with the genre of the cinematic musical. Of her television roles, she is perhaps best known as Shirley Partridge, widow of The Partridge Family and the maternal leader for the band of the same name.

Shirley Jones is sometimes confused with Sandy Duncan, another actress who worked successfully on Broadway and television. Both actresses appeared on American television in the 1970s with short, blonde hair and fine facial features.